Regensblog

Just one day left of Brian and Mikey’s trip to come hang out with us. Today it’s looking pretty, well, undefined, weather-wise. We were hoping to give them our home-grown walking tour of Regensburg (somehow they’ve only gotten bits and pieces from trips to the train station or grocery store). Yesterday we bopped around Munich, starting with the *Wies’n* (Oktoberfest for the uninitiated) and had a nice lunch inside the Hacker-Pschorr tent.

You can see all the photos I’ve taken during their trip here.

These are my favorite ones though:

Watch this space for the pictures.

Here are the bullet points:

• Road trip from Regensburg to Innsbruck, Austria
• Overnight stay in the historic old quarter there at a great hotel that was quite tricky to find (parking separate from the building itself)
• Continued drive to a beautiful B&B outside of Verona, Italy — big story about finding this place
• Big let-down in Verona, Italy
• Italian grocery shopping trip
• Long drive back

Darling little town - much like Bolzano, Italy (from our trip in September 2005). No Lippanzer Stallions, though they are here somewhere.

We’ll be continuing on a little later this afternoon to Verona, Italy and staying in a B&B near Lake Garda.

Pictures to follow at the nearest non-pay-by-the-minute internet cafe!

Brian and Mikey arrived today from K.C. safely, but annoyedly. And who could blame them? Dagnabit United Airlines delayed their flights, causing them to miss connections, and then — on top of all of that — lost their luggage. That’s why Sarah and I spent most of the day at the airport waiting for them. We weren’t really sure when they were going to get here, or on which airline, or from which connecting city. And without that information, you’re screwed: the airlines can’t tell you *anything* about the people on their planes, so if you want any info, you have to ask about specific flight numbers, or flights originating in various cities, etc. — all that stuff we didn’t have and Brian and Mikey couldn’t provide to use while they were underway. So we spent all day hanging around the Munich airport’s arrival areas, hoping to bump into them. Not fun.

Our long-standing agreement with our guests is:
We’ll happily come pick you up at the airport if you come to visit us, provided the airport is Nuremburg or Munich (you’re on your own with Frankfurt). Today’s addition to this is:
If you are flying in on United, or United is involved in any part of your trip, good luck. We’ll see you in Regensburg.

But at least we got to go to Exil:

this is a test of the flickr-wordpress hookup; mostly for Tammy’s sake

Originally uploaded by cliff1976.

Isn’t that the coolest? I love technology (don’t you, Tammy?).

–

My favorite Italian restaurant here in Regensburg makes a wonderful saffron zucchini sauce, but it’s seasonal. Well, I got a hankering for it, so I found a recipe that appeared to have the right base ingredients except without the zucchini. I’ve tweaked it enough that I think I can call it my own now.

2 shallots, finely chopped
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
2 zucchini, julienned
2 T olive oil
pinch ground saffron
2/3 lb mascarpone cheese
2/3 c white wine
salt and pepper to taste

Heat olive oil to medium high in deep skillet and gently sauté shallots and garlic for about 3 minutes. Add zucchini and sauté for another 3 minutes or until zucchini wilts somewhat.

Reduce heat to medium and add saffron, cheese and half of wine to skillet, stirring often to melt cheese. Bring mixture to gentle boil and allow to simmer for 2 minutes. Stir in remaining wine and salt* and pepper. Allow to simmer another 3-5 minutes.

*Mascarpone is not a salty cheese, so it took a fair amount of salt to bring the flavor out. I used roughly 2 tsp (but I wasn’t measuring). Taste the sauce often to achieve the right flavor.

I have been craving this for quite a while. The potato salad here in Germany is actually very similar to my mom’s, but not exactly the same. And no matter what, your mom’s version is always the best.

6 large red potatoes
6 slices bacon
1 medium onion, chopped fine
2 T flour
1 T sugar
1 1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp celery salt
black pepper (to taste)
3/4 c water
1/3 c cider vinegar

Boil potatoes (whole and unpeeled) for 20-30 minutes on low. Potatoes are done when you can stick a knife in and the potato slides off. Drain potatoes and set aside to cool. Once they’re cool, peel and slice potatoes.

Fry bacon until crisp in deep skillet. Remove bacon from pan and set aside. Add onion to pan and fry in bacon grease until soft. Combine all dry ingredients in a bowl and add to onions, stirring frequently until forming a crumbly paste. Pour water and vinegar into skillet, stirring until a sauce forms. Bring sauce to a boil for one minute and stir until thickened.

Add crumbled bacon and sliced potatoes to skillet and stir until coated with sauce. Allow potatoes to sit for at least one hour and serve warm (but not hot).